- Lead singer Nick Jonas has managed type 1 diabetes for two decades.
- The band's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” celebrates its 20th anniversary alongside Nick Jonas’s two-decade experience with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas discusses how these two anniversaries have impacted his life and how he leverages his music to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes.
This year, the number 20 holds particular meaning for iconic singer Nick Jonas.
As the Jonas Brothers celebrate their 20th year as a band, 2025 also marks 20 years since their lead singer's type 1 diabetes diagnosis.
“It’s crazy how it lined up,” Jonas remarked. “It’s been a wild journey in both… regarding the band, it’s been the ride of a lifetime, and we’ve been so fortunate to be able to do this for 20 years now and to have the support of the world’s greatest fans.”
Parallel to the band’s experience over the last two decades, he said he has had wonderful and challenging moments managing diabetes. The difficulties of controlling his disease have been the low points, while raising awareness and connecting with others as a spokesperson and through his non-profit have been a source of happiness.
“Overall, I’m really grateful to have been able to be open about [type 1] and to interact with all these amazing people from all regions of the world who are navigating their own diabetes path, and it’s a really significant feeling to feel like you’re a little less isolated in it,” said Jonas.
The Singer's A1C Announcement to Fans
To show appreciation to supporters, on World Diabetes Day (November 14), he stepped onto the platform during a Jonas Brothers concert and surprised his audience by sharing an uplifting message of hope, along with a shout-out to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a average of numbers over a three-month period, was the most favorable it’s ever been, in fact, most recently,” said Jonas.
The show was visited by members of a global community — a collective of over 30,000 people globally who discuss their experiences with diabetes to help promote a message of strength, determination, and optimism.
“It was really special for me to get to use the Jonas Brothers’ stage as a place to speak about something that’s obviously very personal to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s natural to get reflective and to tap into kind of what life looks like for me as a now thirty-three-year-old person living with this condition,” he said.
Jonas offered the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a tune he wrote early in his career and diabetes journey, to those living with the disease.
“It’s a really significant time for me to get to speak on stage like that and play a song that I wrote about these challenges when I was 14 and to see the effect it still has to this day with the audience,” he said.
While the song has assumed a new significance for him as an adult, he said it is still pertinent.
“Now I [have] this vast, supportive community that I belong to that has lifted me up in so many various moments. I think my outlook is perhaps a lot more optimistic now. It is feasible to live a full, active life while managing this disease and outlook and viewpoint and all that is an essential piece to persevering.”
Advancements in Diabetes Management
Not long ago, life with type 1 diabetes involved more than five daily shots a day and finger sticks 10 or more times daily. This was a constant cycle of needles, guesswork, and vigilance, as stated by a licensed endocrinologist.
“Insulin pumps replaced multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became less bulky and smarter, and eventually learned to ‘communicate’ with the glucose monitors,” the doctor noted.
“Algorithms began adjusting insulin automatically, creating combined ‘artificial pancreas’ systems that lift some of the cognitive load people with type 1 carry every day.”
Jonas is amazed with how far technology has improved since he was first diagnosed.
“The fact that I can receive real time readings of my glucose straight to my phone or smart watch or it can be [shared with] my wife or other family members when I am apart from is just an incredible thing,” he said.
Alongside technology, new therapies aimed at managing diabetes and delaying or modifying the disease itself are in development.
“The first immunotherapy capable of postponing type 1’s onset was authorized, and research into protecting or even substituting the body’s insulin-producing cells acquired real momentum. In labs around the world, scientists are cultivating lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and testing ways to protect them from the body's defenses,” said the specialist.
“Responsive insulin” is also being engineered to become active only when glucose levels rises, offering a future where insulin works as naturally as the body once did.
“More advancements will definitely continue to emerge. We’re no longer just enhancing devices; we’re getting closer to transforming the disease itself,” the expert concluded.
Nevertheless, while another medical professional concurs that additional innovations will continue to appear, he points out that managing type 1 diabetes remains an intensive undertaking — in terms of health, cognitively, and psychologically.
“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more focus to discussing and addressing the burdens and the demands of living with and managing T1D. We need much more of that, too,” he commented.
Jonas Turns to Self-Care to Manage His Diabetes
Beyond medication and technology, Jonas shared some strategies he leans on to handle his diabetes.
First, he said he learned to take pressure off himself.
“You’re never going to have the ideal day living with this disease and even if you’re super on top of your diabetes management, there are just things that are a little beyond your influence and being able to pause, reset, and know that it’s going to be OK on the other side is really crucial,” he said.
While this is hard to do at times, he said he learned to practice this soon after his diagnosis.
Lately, he has prioritized taking vitamins, looking after his skin, and staying hydrated.
“It’s a basic thing, but the more water I drink, my glucose levels are better. I don’t know precisely why, but I just find that hydrating has a lot of health advantages,” he noted. “I didn’t put as much emphasis on it when I was younger as I do now, and it’s been really beneficial.”
He also takes walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his physical, mental, and psychological health.
“It really grounds me and even when it’s cold out, getting out in the fresh air is really important when a lot of my day, too, is spent inside for hours at a venue or on a film set or something,” he said.
He relies on his therapist frequently, too.
“I think it’s really important to do that self-work,” Jonas said.
Above all, he urges everyone living with type 1 diabetes to engage with the diabetes community.
“There will be positive days, there will be tough days, but you can climb this mountain, and there’s some remarkable people out there whose stories will really motivate anybody that’s going through difficult times,” he concluded.
